The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 1 December, dismissed a petition seeking action against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his allegations against Supreme Court judge Justice NV Ramana in an alleged land scam in Amaravati. Two pleas were filed against the Chief Minister – first was that the Central Bureau of Investigation should look into the scandalising remarks made by him, and the second plea was to strip him of the chief minister’s post.
Rejecting the latter plea, the bench consisting of Justices SK Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy were quoted by LiveLaw as saying, “The second prayer legally would not be maintainable. In so far as the first prayer is concerned, it seems that the petitioner is himself not clear as to what he wants. The issue raised with regard to the communication between the CM of Andhra Pradesh and CJI in public domain is already being referred to the bench which is dealing with this aspect. Though pertinent, we see no purpose in entertaining the present petition and hereby dismiss it.”
The pleas, filed by practising advocates GS Mani and Mukti Singh, sought action against Jagan for his allegations against Justice NV Ramana, who is the second senior judge of the Supreme Court after Chief Justice SA Bobde. He is likely to become the next Chief Justice of India.
Advocate Mani argued that action should be taken for Jagan’s alleged contempt of court and “misuse of Constitutional post”. He claimed that Jagan’s actions were a direct threat to the independence of the judiciary.
According to Bar and Bench, all the petitions in the case against Jagan have been dismissed. However, a plea filed by advocate Sunil Kumar is still pending. Sunil asked the court to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction asking the Chief Minister not to conduct any press briefing in person or through his subordinates to “malign” the Supreme Court or its judges. The plea further demands that a show-cause notice be issued to Jagan.
(The story was published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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